Tidewater power plant



April 14, 1925. 1,533,234 D. DAMIANO TIDWATR POWER PLANT Filed Nov. 9, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 III-7.15113.'

; Ziek for' D. DAMIANO TIDEWATER POWER PLANT Filed Nov. 9. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 [52 ver2 for i i orvzqys Y' DOMENICO DAMIANO, 0F BOSTON, MASSA() 1,533,234 PATENT OFFICE.

HUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO DAMIANO TIDE AND STREAM WATER POWER COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATION.

TIDEWATER Application led November 9, 1922.

To all w 7mm t may concern Be it known that` I, DOMENICO DAMIANO, a Vsubject or" the King of Italy, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suti'olk and State of Massachusetts, have inventeda new and useful Tidewater Power Plant, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying two sheets ever desired.

associated therewith the turbine wells "W1 ot drawings, forming part thereof.

4My invention'relates to a tide water power plant for utilizing the flow and ebb of the jtide and has for its object the provision of apparatus for utilizing the flow and ebb ot the tide so that the power derived may be substantially constant.

l Another object of the inventionis to provide a tide motor provided with a float en abling it to follow the level of the water in al well in communication with a tank which receives the water flowing through the turbine.

A- t'urther object o t the invention is the ,provision of a plurality ot turbines in connection with means enabling a.V constant gen- 'eration of power.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description con- Vsidered in connection with the accompany ing drawings showing an embodiment ot the invention in which:

Fig. l is ,a plan sectional view of the tide water power plant onthe line l-l ot Fig. et;

F e'. 2 is a plan sectional view of the motor positioned in the well on the line 2 2 of Fig. 4;

. Fig; il isa vertical sectional view ot the motor and the tloat on the line 3 3 ot llig. l;V

FigfelV is a vertical sectional view ot the power plant; and

Fig. 5 is a plan sectional view on t-he line 5 of Ll.

The power plant comprises the reservoirs Rl and which ,are separated `from each other by the wall lV which may be provided with a suitable valve l tor controlling communication between the two reservoirs wl1enrlhc reservoirs R1 and R, have and Wm respectively, in which are positioned for vertical movement the floats f1 and f2 which support the turbines T, and

The reservoirs R1 and R2 may communicate with the main body of water lil POWER PLANT.

Serial No. 539,865.

through the valves V1 and V6 of any con ventional construction. Each turbine well may be placed in communication with its companion reservoir by means of the valves V, and V5, and with the main body of water M by means OiE the valves V, and V4, all of said valves being of any common or pretenred lorm. Means for opening and closing the valves are shown by Fig. et and comprise rods 2, 3, l and 5.

The inotorsTl and T, are of the Pelton wheel type and are enclosed in casings Cl and C, mounted on the floats f1 and The casings C, and C, have the conduits 6 and 7, 8 and 9 which pass through the walls of the turbine wells as shown more clearly by F ig. 2. The conduits G and 7 enga-ge the sliding gates lO and ll which, as it will be clearly understood, thus enables the motor T1 to rise and fall with the level of the water and :at the same time maintain con'mninication between the turbine, the main body of water M and the reservoir R1. The conduits 7 and S are provided with valves T1 and Sl. The conduits 8 and 9 communicate with the main body of water and the reservoir R2 in the same way, as is obvious. The turbines are keyed to the shafts l2 and 13 whereby the power generated is transmitted to any suitable point. Each of the shafts is provided with a key ll which enables the turbine to move vertically and at the saine time rotate the shaft. In order to enable the unidirectional rotation ot the power transmissitm pulley l5 there is provided a direction changing gearing 1G ol any well known type not forming part oi this invention. It will be understood that as the turbine rises and vfalls it will at the same time be rot-ated yby the flow ot water through the casing in opposite directions but by reason of the provision of the gearing lo, the rotation of the pulley l5 will be in the same direction. As guiding' means for the lloats and f2, there areV provided the project-ions 1T, which may be iornied integral with the lloat, which are received in the ways 1S on the. walls of the turbine wells IV, and W2, as shown more clearly by Figs. 2 and 5.

When the tide; is about to rise the reservoirs R, and R, and the wells lV, and TV, are all empty. The valves 0) and fu, are closed and the valves 7, and fr., are open so that. the turhine ll is actuated as the tide lnn lil

Y communication rises by Water thatrloivs therethrough into the Yreservoir R2. VThe vvell `W2 being in with the reservoir -Rl through the valve o2 will cause the turbine 'ill to assume a position lcorresponding'to 4the Water level in the reservoir lil and the turbine. will risewith the Water level. Vihile the tide is rising and actuating turbine T, the turbine T2 will not be actuated, the valves 8l, o5 and` o2 being closed andI the valve o12 open so that While. the turbine Will not be actuated it Wil-lrise with the tide in the Well W72. When turbine T1 stops operating, when vthe level of the Water in reservoir R2 is the same as that oit the main body of water M at about three fourths normal high tide,-acc n'di'ng to the design ot the plant,the turbine T2 will be put into operation by opening valves S1 and o5 and closing valve o4. The turbine T2 Will operate While the tide is rising` to its high level and While the tide is receding to about hal-t itshigh level. llfhen theA tide reaches its high level, valves 71 and o2 are closed so that the water evel would be maintained in the. reservo-ir R2 and the tui-bine T1 Would Anot be -ac'tu'- *ated during the .i'irst part ot' the iiall ot the tide While the turbine T2 Was operating as just described. As stated, the turbine T2 stops operati-ng rwhen the tide has receded to about half its normal hi ghV level and When the level in the neservoir R2 is about the same as that ot the mainbody of Water 1M, as is obvious. At this point, the turbine T1 is again put into operation by opening valves 72 and o2 and closing valve o2 and it Iwill be understood* that When turbine T2 stopped operating valves 81 and o2 Were closed in' order to maintain the head of Water 'i-nreservoir- R2 While the tide was receding. rlhe turbine T1 continues to operate until the tide reaches approxi-mately low level when turbine T2 is againsetinto operatio-n by opening valve 82 and continues to operate y,as has turbine T] until `vthe reservoir is en'ipty and av neu' cycle oi operations 'is repeated followingl the steps just described. lt-

believed that the peration is obvious 'and that one turbine operates-'on the rise ot the tide until its associated reservoirs Water level is the same as that of the main bod-y or Water when the other turbine is set into operation and operates while the first turbine is idle until t-he tide .has reached high level and has receded to about half high level when the first turbine operates While the'second turbine is idle until low tide is about reached When the second turbine is againoperated until vits reservoir is empty While in the meantime the reservoir associated with the rst turbine has been emptied. It Ais' :thus seen that by the opera-t'ioi'i of the turbines as described a substantially con-l stant supply ot power is generated and While the turbines Vmay be operated in other Ways, the operation just described is very advantageous because ofthe vconstant 'power supply thereby obtained. It will thus be seen' that While both turbines may operate duringcertain .periods in the rise and fall of the tide, there are periods when one turbine only is operating on the rise of `the tide and When the other turbine only Vis opeating on the ebb ot the tide to thereby effect a substantially constant generation ot' power. u

,While l have herein show-n and describeda specific practical embodiment of my inv'e'ntion', it is to be. understood that this Y showing is merely illustrative ot vthe prin- 'ciples of the invention, and lido not Wish to be limited tothe exact embodiment herein disclosed except Within the scope of the appended claims.v i

Having thusdescrlibed my invention, Wha-t l claim and desire to secure byLe-tters Patent of the 1lUnited States is:

l. A tide Water power planteoniprising a plurality oi reservoirs, a Well associated Withea'ch of said reservoirs, means cont-rolling communications between each `Well and Sii its companion reservoir,r a iloat controlled 2' motor iii'eaclrwell, means for actuating one oit -saidl tmotors during the rise of the tide, means lfor actuating one of said motors during the fall ot the tide, and means :tor actuating said [irs't -inentionee motor subsequent tothe actuation of said second men'- tioned motor during the ,ta-ll of Ythe tide7 bot-l1 of said reservoirsl being filled vand emptied by Water ilo-wing through said turbines during the actuation thereof.

2. A tide Water power plant comprising a. plurality of reservoirs, a Well associated with each of said reservoirs, means controlling communications between said reservoirs and said Wells, a float controlled' motor in each vofisaid wells, means controlling Icommunication betweensaid wells and a. body 'of' noMnNioo mariano.

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